Do kids need Apple/iCloud accounts? Why? What are best practices?

It's not necessary to set up kids' devices with their own Apple accounts to use Screenable, but there are some benefits. (By the way, "Apple account", "iCloud account", and "Apple ID" are all the same thing.)

What are the pros and cons?

The main benefit of kids having their own Apple accounts is that then they can't delete or disable Screenable. That's because Apple allows parents to enforce certain restrictions on kid accounts, but only if the device is signed into an Apple account for a kid within the same family group.

The main downside is that you may need to create an Apple account for them (note that this usually only takes a few minutes), and then to set up Screenable you'll need to approve access using your own (i.e. a parent's) Apple account's email & password, to confirm that you are a parent in their Apple family group.

How do I make sure my kid's device is fully locked down?

  1. As mentioned, make sure your kid has their own Apple account.
  2. During the Screenable setup flow, you'll be asked to sign into your own Apple account (i.e. of a parent in the same Apple Family group).
    • This is a weird (and potentially confusing) requirement from Apple. But unfortunately it's the only way they allow parents to authorize management of a kid's device, for third-party apps like ours.

What if I don't want to do it?

It will still work if you don't want your kid to have their own Apple account. Here's what will happen:

  1. By default, we'll turn off their ability to delete any apps on their device, to prevent the lowest-hanging way of getting around Screenable (i.e. by deleting the Screenable app). You can reenable this from within Screenable using the Apple kid & device settings.
  2. We'll notify you if they figure out another way to disable Screenable, or if Screenable just stops working for whatever reason.

What do you recommend?

It can feel strange to "open an account" for kids, especially younger kids, as though it's starting their digital footprint or giving them online accounts too early. But we recommend doing it for a few reasons:

  1. The benefits mentioned above, about stopping kids from disabling Screenable.
  2. We trust Apple's privacy practices – they are truly best-in-class.
  3. This doesn't need to be a real account or one you give them the password to (you can even use a fake/dummy email address and dispose of it later, if you want).
  4. You'll probably need to do it anyway at some point, if you plan to give your kid their own full Apple device.

How do I create an Apple account for them, or determine whether they already have one?

Check out our guide to setting up a kid's Apple account on their device.

I'm worried about first needing to sign out of my own account – what will happen?

A common worry of kids who have been using their parents' Apple account is that they'll lose their saved progress in the games they were playing. (There may be other concerns too – we'd love to hear yours so we can take a closer look.) Most of the time this works fine, as follows:

  1. When you sign out of your (the parent's) Apple account, all the apps stay on your device.
  2. When you then sign into your kid's Apple account, even then, the apps remain.
    • If there are settings in Apple Screen Time that would block them (e.g. Content Restrictions set to "Don't allow apps" or a low age limit), the apps will disappear off the phone but not be deleted. You just need to change the setting in Screen Time if you want them to reappear.
  3. If the app only saves progress locally to the device, then it'll be in the same state as when the device was signed into your (the parent's) Apple account – so you're good to go.
  4. If the app saves progress to iCloud, then when the kid opens up the app, it usually detects that it's in another Apple account and saves its progress there.
    • In this case it may ask the kid to create a new account, or sign into a new Game Center account. Go ahead and do this.
  5. And lastly, many games have their own accounts outside of iCloud or Game Center, like Supercell (maker of Clash of Clans, Clash Royale, Brawl Stars, etc). In these cases, you can always just sign into your account for that game, no matter which device or account you're using.

If these instructions don't work for you, we'd love to hear your story – please contact us.

My kid has their own account – but I don't have a parent's Apple account information.

Even if your kid has their own Apple account, sometimes during the setup of Screenable you either can't remember your own Apple account email and password, or maybe you're not registered as a parent/guardian in your Apple Family. In this case, it's best to either track down your credentials or ask another parent/guardian in your Apple Family sharing group for theirs.

Alternatively, you can bypass the parent authorization step as follows:

  1. When asked for a parent's Apple email and password, press Cancel.
  2. You'll be given the option to Authorize without parental approval. Tap that.
  3. You can authorize with your kid's device's PIN or FaceID/TouchID.
  4. NOTE: this has the same downside of not having a kid Apple account at all, i.e. that it's easier for kids to disable or delete Screenable.